When Hazardous Drinking Leads to Serious Health Problems
For several years alcohol dependency research has demonstrated the fact that there is strong linkage between alcoholism and dangerous health conditions.
As an illustration, in 2005, scientific research and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics revealed that alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. It can be stressed that this immense alcohol-related expenditure was significantly more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is relevant to give emphasis to these facts, it is also noteworthy to emphasize the point that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health conditions.
More to the point, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction are also highly interrelated with obesity and with cancer.
Definitely, substance abuse exploration has revealed that alcohol dependency can amplify the risk for various kinds of cancer, especially cancer of the voice box (larynx), esophagus, liver, rectum, colon, kidneys, and throat. Hazardous and recurring drinking can also lead to immune system issues and damage to the fetus during pregnancy.
Heavy and Hazardous Drinking Weakens the Drinker’s Organs and Systems
Furthermore, if alcohol addiction continues over a period of years, the individual’s body organs will likely be affected in a harmful manner. For instance, repeated, excessive drinking is especially harmful to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been ingested. Extreme amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and destroys the ability of liver cells to reproduce. This medical circumstance leads to a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can at the end of the day lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a critical and potentially terminal medical problem.Heavy, long-term drinking not only can lead to serious liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this severe may be irreversible and may, in turn, lead to severe illness or an early death.
The Significance of Alcohol Therapy
It is important, therefore, to know how to recognize the different alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcohol dependent person can be given the opportunity to seek the quality alcohol rehab he or she requires.
Alcohol Addiction and Sophisticated Brain Research
Fortuitously, scientific examination is persistently generating innovative and significant information. Recent alcoholism exploration provides an excellent illustration. Stated differently, for roughly the past ten years, technologically advanced brain-imaging scanning devices have shown that continuous and chronic irresponsible drinking alters the constitution of the brain to a significant extent, thereby resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perhaps as long as the person exists.
More accurately, medical examination has shown that individuals who have been drinking in an irresponsible manner for an extensive length of time increase their risk for developing long-term and severe changes in the brain.
This type of damage may be directly related to the alcohol’s effects on the brain, to severe liver disease, or might be indirectly associated with the drinker’s poor overall health.
Hazardous Drinking, Malnutrition, and Mental Disorders
As a final illustration of assorted medical problems that are significantly correlated to alcoholism, take into account the fact that according to scientific investigation, the abusive and repeated abuse of alcohol can result in erosive gastritis, a medical problem that reduces the absorption of minerals, nutrients, and vitamins.
This form of organ failure is correlated with malnutrition and to a variety of serious mental and neurological syndromes including memory loss, sleep disturbances, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical condition is a lasting incapacitating medical condition that is typified by incessant memory and learning problems.
Summary
It is apparent that continued, abusive drinking is directly or indirectly linked to a variety of critical medical conditions that can and do lead to dangerous illness and premature death. Such information needs to be stressed and presented to everyone in our society so that most individuals will be able to refrain from excessive drinking while others who have a drinking problem will get the professional therapy they need.